Help:Writing Character Pages

Emphasis on Competitive Gameplay

The Dustloop Wiki is not a place to talk about the lore of the games - there are other wikis for that. The purpose of the character pages is to give information about how a character plays in a competitive/tournament setting. Try to keep any backstory/personality section for characters brief - think about a paragraph total. Use the majority of the overview section to discuss the character's play style/unique abilities in the game, like how would you describe to a new player what this character does in a conversation.

Remember the Intended Audience

When writing guides, remember the intended audience is beginner and intermediate players --not experts.

• Move explanations should not be very long if possible. Use bullet lists to list interesting properties, and paragraphs for deeper explanations.
• Do not waste words describing what the attack looks like - that is what the image is for.
  • An exception is when the move is too visually complex for a small set of images to explain. In these cases, describing what a move looks like is acceptable.
• The combo section should not list ALL combos for a character. List enough for a person to learn the basics for standard situations (common starters, big punishes, corners, etc.)
• The strategy section should explain the goals of the character and how to achieve said goals. Be sure to explain tips and tricks the character uses such as Yosuke's glide technique, Arakune's fast-fall, Slayer's BDC, or Kagura's easy drive attack inputs.

Tone

The primary goal is to transfer information to the reader - it's best to think of yourself as a technical writer rather than a story teller. If information can be conveyed while being entertaining then all the better, but do not sacrifice informational value simply to be entertaining. Please try to keep this wiki primarily a place for information rather than to write jokes and story synopses. One suggestion is to mix the two; incorporate useful information into the entertainment and not simply joke around.

The main offender of this tenant is adding joke captions for images; occasional joking is fine, but giving every image a joke is overkill. Try adding a little useful info or having no caption at all.

Creating Images

• The two primary goals for the images are:

1. Make the attack easily identifiable by players who do not know the character and have seen the attack once or twice at most.
2. Be a visual aid to explain how an attack works. See examples:

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• Use sprite rips with a transparent background for images even if the sprite does not use all the special effects used in game as long as the attack is still identifiable. If no rips are available, use high quality PNG screenshots taken with a capture card or straight from a computer.
• Characters should use default colors and face right (as if they are player 1)
• Combine multiple sprites together if the attack does an animation that can not easily be understood by one sprite alone. See examples:

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• Crop the image so that extraneous details such as long ponytails do not take up too much space.
• Consider moving objects closer together, this meant to be an image people use to identify the attack. For example if the attack hits far away, such as Bedman 3H, or Cell's command throw, it's okay to move the hit effect closer.
• Consider splicing multiple images together to make an image more readable
  • For example, the image for Vegeta's Consecutive Energy Blast does not exist in the game, it was made by putting multiple blasts together to give the visual illusion that he has shot multiple shots in a row
  • Millia's Chroming Rose does not spawn the roses that close to her. The image was made by running forward, then backdashing and running forward again.
• Name the image with the following format: GameAbbreviation_CharacterName_attackName. So for example, Sol's 5P in Guilty Gear XRD would be named GGXRD_Sol_5P.png
• Nearly all images that have text use the font Arial bolded. Please continue to use it for the sake of consistency.

Use the Templates

Templates are pre-defined sets of text used to maintain a uniform look throughout pages on the wiki. You can recognize a template when it's enclosed in double {s such as {{MyTemplate}}. To learn more about templates, check out mediawiki's help page.

Most users won't need to worry about them as they will already be in place. But just in case all the pages follow the same pattern:

• Each move uses the template Template:MoveData to lay out an attack with move name, images, captions, and truncated list of frame data.
• Each character's page refers to their Data page that has all the data for that character, for example Answer's links and frame data are all on GGXRD-R2/Answer/Data. Sections on the data page are referenced by the character page, such as by {{#lsth:GGXRD-R2/Answer/Data|5P}}
• When in doubt, look at other character pages, copy, and adapt for your own uses.
• When creating AttackData templates for new games, remember that not ALL frame data should be included. For example, Template:AttackData-BBCP does not include P1, P2, or SMP values while Template:AttackData-GGACR does not have GB+, GB-, or TG values.

Editing Frame Data

See Help:Editing Frame Data

Game Specific Examples

Below are examples of the current standards for character page entries for their respective games.

Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2

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6P Beats level 3 Mist Finer.

Damage GuardHow this attack can be blocked. StartupThe number of frames between inputting an attack and when the attack becomes active. Includes first active frame. ActiveThe number of frames for which a move has hitboxes. Occurs after Startup. RecoveryThe number of frames after a move's active frames during which the character cannot act assuming the move is not canceled. On-BlockThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This Frame Advantage value is based off the fact that the very first active frame touches the opponent. Invuln 6P normal Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block Level R.I.S.C. Gain R.I.S.C. Loss Cancel Roman Tension Prorate Invuln 28[36] Mid 7 7 16 -9 2 10 7 SJ YRP 264 1～3 Upper Body 4～6 Above Knees 7～10 Upper Body Beats level 3 Mist Finer

A 6P so good that it has become a meme. 6P is a reliable anti-air and occasional poke. Although 6P can gatling into many of his other buttons, it cannot combo into 6H on normal hit and must be jump canceled into an air combo. On counter hit 6P combos into 6H for a free knockdown. When combined with a ball hit, 6P has enough hitstun to combo into 6H. 6P is also useful to counter-poke a large variety of moves such as I-No's Chemical Love, and Johnny's Level 3 Mist Finer with varying degrees of risk. Generous upper body invicibility Sends balls upwards at an angle with moderate speed. Inconsistent ability to hit crouching opponents. Gatling Options: c.S, f.S, 2S, 5H, 2H, 6H, 5D, 2D Supplemental Frame Data: 1-3, 7-10 Upper Body Invincibility; 4-6 Above Knees Invincibility

Expected features:

• Image of the move
• Frame Data and damage
• general description of when the move is useful
• bullet point list of move properties
• list of gatling options with link to gatling table on frame data page
• supplemental frame data such as invulnerability and wall-stick
• expandable hitbox preview
• different "versions" of moves (as applicable)

Guilty Gear Accent Core + R

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6P Using your head is key

Version Damage GuardHow this attack can be guarded. Throws have their throw range listed instead. High: High or air Faultless Defense Low: Low or air FD Mid: Any ground block or air FD StartupHow many frames it takes for the move to become able to strike the opponent. Startup includes the frame on which the move becomes active. ActiveHow many frames for which the move has a hitbox where if the opponent touches it, they will take damage. Occurs after Startup. RecoveryHow many frames that the move must go through after its active frames end to automatically go back to a neutral state. On-BlockAlso known as Frame AdvantageThe difference between the attacker's recovery and the period that the opponent is in blockstun. This value is based on the first active frame. Invulnerability Normal 6P normal Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Level Guard Bar Gain Guard Bar Minus 19×2 Mid 10 3(5)5 10 -1 3 10×2 7×2 Tension Prorate Invuln Cancel Blockstun Ground Hit Air Hit Hitstop FRC Window 2.64×2 90% 1~9F Above Knees SJR 13 14 14 13 1st hit (Frames 10-12) • 2nd hit (Frames 18-19) • 2nd hit (Frames 20-22) •Jump cancel on 2nd hit only A relatively fast 6P, good combo starter against jump-ins. Two hits. Gatling into whatever jump cancellable normal you want or just jump cancel this into whatever into Keygrab. Initial prorate 90% Gatling Options: 2S, 2H Supplemental Frame Data: Upper body invincible 1~9F; above knees invincible 10~12F Moroha 6P[m] moroha Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Level Guard Bar Gain Guard Bar Minus 23×2 Mid 10 3,3 17 -6 3 10×2 7×2 Tension Prorate Invuln Cancel Blockstun Ground Hit Air Hit Hitstop FRC Window 2.64×2 90% 1~9F Upper Body 10~12F Above Knees SJR 13 14 14 13 1st hit (Frames 10-12) • 2nd hit (Frames 13-15) •Jump cancel on 2nd hit only Its hitbox is a little altered since the Key's head changes shape, but functions nearly identically to the Normal version. Initial prorate 90% Gatling Options: 2S, 2H Supplemental Frame Data: Upper body invincible 1~9F; above knees invincible 10~12F; Goku Moroha 6P[gm] goku Damage Guard Startup Active Recovery On-Block On-Hit Level Guard Bar Gain Guard Bar Minus 23×2 Mid 7 2,3 12 -1 3 10×2 7×2 Tension Prorate Invuln Cancel Blockstun Ground Hit Air Hit Hitstop FRC Window 2.64×2 90% 1~6F Upper Body 7~8F Above Knees SJR 13 14 14 13 1st hit (Frames 7-8);2nd hit (Frames 9-11) •Jump cancel on 2nd hit only Much faster and significantly safer, but otherwise has the same uses. Initial prorate 90% Gatling Options: expand to every other normal, excluding itself. Supplemental Frame Data: Upper body invincible 1~6F; above knees invincible 7~8F;

Expected features:

• Image of the move
• Frame Data and damage
• general description of when the move is useful
• bullet point list of move properties
• list of gatling options with link to gatling table on frame data page
• supplemental frame data such as invulnerability and wall-stick
• expandable hitbox preview
• different "versions" of moves (as applicable)